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Las Vegas home sales fall 11 percent in June
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The tailwind from the homebuyer tax credit has ended and some housing analysts are concerned the market may be headed for further decline.
Home sales declined 11.2 percent in June from a year ago and inventory of homes for sale continued a steady upward climb to 21,361, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
Realtors sold 3,360 homes during the month, a 16.5 percent increase from the previous month, but down from 3,785 sales in June 2009. With 4,759 new listings, inventory has increased six consecutive months and is up 3.6 percent from a year ago.
The median single-family home price was $140,000 in June, unchanged from a year ago. It's the third straight month that year-over-year prices were either stable or increasing.
The local housing market seems to be taking two steps forward and one step back, association President Rick Shelton said.
"To really rebound from the downturn of the past few years, we need to see home sales, inventory and prices all pointing in a positive direction for an extended period of time," he said. "It's always tough because you get certain indicators for a month or two months and then you get a month of contrast. At worst, it's kind of bubbling at the bottom of the market."
The number of condos and townhomes sold in June was 905 units, a 1.3 percent decrease from a year ago. Median condo price rose 6.1 percent to $70,000.
A Las Vegas housing update from St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James brokerage said sales have slowed despite the tax credit tailwind.
"Looking ahead, given the moderation we are currently witnessing in sales activity, we would not be surprised to see sales tail off further in the wake of the tax credit expiration," Raymond James analysts Buck Horne and Paul Puryear wrote in the June report. "Thus, while the Las Vegas resale market has demonstrated signs of stabilization, we are becoming increasingly concerned about the potential for renewed price declines."
The trend toward more short sales, or sales for less than the mortgage balance owed, and fewer foreclosures continued in June. Short sales accounted for 34 percent of the total, an all-time high, while foreclosures fell to 38 percent of all sales.
With short sales playing such a big part in the Las Vegas housing market, Shelton said thousands of home buyers were helped by last week's extension of the closing deadline for the federal tax credit. Buyers who had a sales contract by April 30 now have until Sept. 30 to close escrow.
The tax credit is one of many outside influences on "turning that corner" toward recovery, Shelton said. Banks are another controlling factor.
"The banks seem to be getting more aggressive in working on short-sale transactions," he said. "Through that I think more and more inventory will come to the market."
Shelton said the expiration of the tax credit should theoretically reflect a decline in buyer activity, at least in the short term. The market experienced a spike in inventory that was almost parallel with a drop in absorption, he said.
The percentage of local homes purchased with cash -- a good indication of investor activity -- peaked at nearly 50 percent a few months ago and fell to 42.5 percent in June, he noted.
California-based real estate consultant John Burns said the housing market is at the bottom and heading into "stage two," which is the beginning of the next up cycle.
Job growth is coming back slowly and renters are figuring out that this may be the best buying opportunity of their lifetime, he said. Mortgage rates and home prices have fallen dramatically, creating the best consumer affordability in more than 30 years.
"While we think stage two will last longer than usual, we want to point out that the downside of investing in housing right now is about as low as you will ever see," Burns said.
The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the Multiple Listing Service in June decreased 11 percent from a year ago to $564 million, the Realtors association reported.
Statistics from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors are based on data collected from the Multiple Listing Service and do not necessarily account for sales by owners, homebuilders and transactions not involving a Realtor.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
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The boom goes bust, the greedy walk away, the republicans hunker down in their bunkers, and the citizens in this state are left angry, desperate, and broke. For years, the republicans have encouraged the cycle and done NOTHING to make sure that this state had a leg to stand on; no investment, no diversification, no education, NOTHING. Except of course the grossest of gross incomes for the WEALTHIEST in this city. Did they mind that while this state had a near monopoly on gaming that the barons of the state were paying PEANUTS for the PRIVILEGE of making BILLIONS that they would later haul overseas? Nah, that is what republicans DO; help the WEALTHIEST GET EVEN WEALTHIER, all the while the rest of us scuffle along only to be exploited later on. "Cut education, Cut investment, CUT TAXES ON THE WEALTHY, "that'll do 'er", so say the republicans. Now, when the game is up, and the rest of the nation, and the world, have decided to add gaming to their repetoir Nevada, and Nevadans are lost. The tragedy continues though folks. Mining, or should I say, PAYOFF to primarly FOREIGN COMPANIES, is an ongoing scam ENCOURAGED again, by republicans who WANT foreigners TAKING OUR RESOURCES OUT OF STATE WITHOUT PAYING THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THEM FOR THAT PRIVILEGE. Don't these guys EVER tire of being so dumb?
SINCE WE A RUNNING OUT OF WATER..............
I'M OK WITH THE SALES DECLINE.................
The stimuli packages took the incentive for acting with any urgency away. The banks don't have to work for their money anymore.
I get so frustrated when I read these articles and reader's postings... Why did it take a total collapse of LV real estate property values for someone to realize something strange is going on here? Nobody could recognize LV as ground zero for mortgage fraud while it was occuring? The fact that home prices were totally out of line with median incomes wasn't a clue? Homes being flipped in 1 day for massive profits wasn't a clue? The percentage of liar, no doc loans wasn't a clue? And now we wonder how the values are going to recover?
In Jan 2008 , Bank of America had 6 requests for short sales. In Jan 2010 they had 50,000 short sales requests.....There are 10 million homes in foreclosure or bank owned in the country. There are 15 million more that will turnover in the next 3 years through foreclosure, people moving, etc. 92% of the 15 million will be foreclosed on...Thats a lot of mess to mop up, and its not getting mopped up real fast, is it. What happened starting in 2005 is not coming back..!!! This is the new normal for a while. At least until a year after Obama is not re-elected. It;s going to take time for the CHANGE to happen...
Obama, Reid and Pelosi all say economic stimulus is an "unemployment check"
Nevada has REID FATIGUE... we're number 1 in unemployed Americans, foreclosed homes, least money received from the fed government, lost construction jobs, and teh list goes on...
JUST SEND HARRY REID BACK TO SEARCHLIGHT
REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER - NO REID
Don't worry. Harry says there is no urgency. There is no need to panic. Nothing to worry about, sez Prince Harry. If only you BELIEVE enough, good things will come your way, courtesy of the benevolent Federal government. They just need more time. Like... until after the next election cycle.
I don't understand why one of the biggest and most obvious reasons why home sales are down is NOT being looked at or talked about. So many buyers and sellers are unable to close the deal because the BANKS are not moving their a**es on getting the paperwork and process going. So many realtors and people who are trying to sell their homes, whether it be a short sale or whatnot, have had buyers just walk away because they have waited way too long for the bank to process the paperwork. It's not even credit-related, the banks just claim to be "backed-up". The system is so screwed up. Of course the listings are just going to continue to grow and sales remain stagnant because people's hands are tied...by the BANKS!!
Don't hold your breath. Nevada is about to become "New Detroit" thanks to Steven Horsford and Barbara Buckley and the rest of the Nevada legislature running business out of the state. Thanks morons!
If will be worst in a few months. More people are losing their jobs which will eventually lose their homes into foreclosures. REID's promised of helping homeowners are clearly just political gimmicks as we remain the state with highest foreclosures and unemployment.